The Dragonborns of the 4th Era
by Almythius
Summary: Equiped with their own different skills, personalities, motives, and belongings 3 citizens of Tamriel will make their own journeys throughout Skyrim and beyond fulfulling their desires for knowlegde, power, and adventure (time).
1. The First

**Author's Note:** Fun fact: This story is based off of my own Skyrim characters and how I made their (role-played) personalities and background history. Anywho, enjoy the story (Or not whatever you prefer)

_(I own nothing except the characters that weren't created by "Bethesda Softworks")_

**The Dragonborns of the 4****th**** Era**

**Chapter 1. "The First"**

"No, I have no interest in being a merchant or bureaucrat!" , said the young adult Imperial staring at his mother. His eyes flared almost angrily at the female Imperial. He wasn't one to be loud and indignant, but her persistence was testing his patience.

"You clearly don't know what you want Zedimus, since you resigned your apprenticeship from the Synod!", the Imperial woman shouted.

"I told you before, they were more about the spreading of secrets and political ass-kissing than the teaching of magic!" he spat

"Then what will you do.", she said still glaring at him across the fire-place in the middle of the house.

"Mother could you please trust me I'll find a better mage organization, and…" she cut him off

"Become a no-good healer for some barbaric incompetent warrior!"

"I'm not trying to become a healer, the study of Restoration and Destruction magic both intrigue me. Doesn't the wonders of the world instill in you even a bit of curiosity? Becoming a mage can be a great experience, just like father once was." Zedimus paused to stare at the Altmer sitting relaxed next to his mother, queuing him for some sort of support.

The Altmer just sat in his chair with his hand clasped around a mug of water. After a couple of seconds of studying the fire, and listening intently to the awkward silence his eyes lazily rose to meet the two heated debaters.

"You know, you both shouldn't yell so much, your voices will go hoarse, not to mention we won't hear if..." The Imperial woman threw the elf a dirty look then he continued… "Love, I do believe you are trying to combat an adult over his own life choices"

"And!? He is still our son."

"Who can take care of himself", Zedimus finished.

The Imperial woman stared worriedly at Zedimus standing near the door dressed in slightly ragged mage robes and hood with his bag of food, filled milk jugs, and spell tomes. His bearded face and pale skin didn't look old but his bagged eyes, and slightly (even if unnoticeably) small stature gave off an aura of frailty. After what seemed like a long while, she rushed over and tightly hugged him. Almost simultaneously there was a loud knock on the entrance followed by "Delivery for the Artar family!"

Zedimus' father rushed to the door "By the nine, for this to be the Imperial city, delivery is extremely slow". He opened the door to greet the courier, took the package and closed the door. "Was scared you would leave before it came."

Letting him go Zedimus's mom says, "Where will you go?"

Zedimus takes the parcel from his father's hands, thanks his him, then answers. "I'm thinking about making my way through Skryim to reach Blacklight then get some information on any guilds there in Morrowind before traveling on from there. I hear their carriage rides are faster and more frequent than those Silt striders."

Zedimus' father blinks in confusion "Through Skyrim? Your mother sees a mage as financially insecure career for you, due to your past resignation but those Nords outright despise magic. And that might be an understatement. Not to speak for all of them of course, but quite a lot of them"

"I'll be fine", were his last words before wishing his parents good luck, and taking his leave.

He traveled on foot for some time before sighting and getting on a carriage in some part of the southern region of Skyrim. After a while he realized he still had an unopened gift from his father in his sack. So he took it out and unwrapped it to reveal 3 books titled "The Monomyth", "Words and Philosophy", and "Twin Secrets" coupled with some healing, magicka, and stamina potions.

There was also a letter that read:

"The books are from me and the potions were from your mother's stash in her drawer and we** both** love you, no matter our differences in opinion

Sincerely,

Your family

P.S. Ever heard of The College of Winterhold?"

Zedimus smiled and chuckled to himself and started to wonder what "The College of Winterhold was, but his thoughts were interrupted by loud yelling and what sounded close to the clanging metal.

* * *

_Hopefully there aren't too many mistakes and I have no idea when the next chapter will be. If I got nothing right at least I can take pride in creating an Altmer character that isn't a pretentious self-absorbed fuck-wit. Cheers_


	2. The Second

**Author's Note: **Wow. Just wow, I said I didn't know how long this chapter would take to put out but, I still didn't think it'd more than one week!(Apologies for not owning my computer) Regardless here it is, hopefully enjoy.

_(I own nothing except the characters that weren't created by "Bethesda Softworks")_

**The Dragonborns of the 4th Era**

**Chapter 2. "The Second"**

A Bosmer was standing choke holding her adversary. They both shambled around as the male Redguard flailed, attempting to strike behind himself.

The archaic audience shouted "Finish him already Sylnia! I got my whole savin's on this tonight Syl!" as the elf continued to strangle her opponent until…"Haaa! Yes! I told you she's the best in Valenwood! *whistling sounds and jeers echoed around the tavern*" The man had went limp in her arms.

Sylnia then crouched over and searched his clothes till her hands clasped around a big, hefty, huge, enormously large coin purse. She then quickly put it in her satchel around her waist and made sure no one saw her.

As she stood up you could tell she was considerably tall for a Bosmer with a slender but muscular frame and extremely light caramel skin with a tinge of green. A hood covered portions of her face and war paint shaped like two symmetrical S-like symbols streaked down her face; from the top of her forehead down her eyes and stopped a little ways from the corners of her mouth. And she was clothed in armor made of various animal hides with leather boots/gauntlets on her feet and hands. Also she had a elven battle axe and a bone bow with a quiver of arrows strapped to her back and an elven dagger sheathed on her belt.

As the crowd dispersed away from the bar brawl scene; back to their normal drinking and chatter Sylnia made her way out of the bar and down a dirt road taking in the view of the starry night sky for a couple of hours as she slowly walked her way into a more heavily forested area. Where the trees were so tall and wide at the top they could replace the sky.

Sylnia stopped at one of these trees and began to walk up the spiral wooden stairs growing out the trees towards the set of houses built into the trees connected by bone bridges. The Village of "tree houses" were lit by bone firefly lanterns littered across the bridges and in front of the houses.

When she made it to her door she walked in locked the door behind her and very exhausted from today's work, fell asleep on her bed.

She was quickly awoken sometime in the afternoon of the next day by the sound of someone moving her lock, which was strange since she lived alone and was quite sure she had no friends or family to visit her or send mail. She tossed herself quietly out of bed and hid in a large empty wardrobe across her room that she never attempted to put any clothes in for this very use. She waited for what seemed like forever before the sound of feet shuffling, the door slamming open and disheveled panting filled the room.

She slowly pushed open the wardrobe door and peered her head outside to catch a scene. An Altmer in Thalmor mage robes had a small Breton girl cornered, looking as though he was ready to cast a spell at her.

Sylnia had a history with the Dominion; they kidnapped and sold her into a slave settlement in Morrowind due to her parents protest against the Dominions occupation in Valenwood, they were responsible for her family's deaths when riots broke out between the Dominion and the local Bosmer. Not to mention they every High and Dark elf she ever met were downright annoyingly snobbish assholes.

So Taking her Bow and adjusting an arrow through the crack of the halfway open door. Stretching back the string as far as the bow would allow, and then releasing the arrow; making it sink so far through the back of Altmer's skull the arrow's tip was sticking out between his eyes was a satisfying opportunity that was not passed up.

She then hurriedly peered outside her house for any witnesses and closed and locked the door. Ignoring the body, Sylnia turned toward the now bloodstained Breton girl. "How'd you get…" She answered her own question when she saw a small coin purse and a couple of broken lockpicks in the girl's hands.

The girl was very dirty and dressed in what looked like sewn together rags and had no shoes. She was very skinny, looked no more than 9 or 10 and had a bunch of deep red blush marks that looked oddly tanned to her cheeks and neck, as though she recently was drinking heavily.

Sylnia could tell she was wide-eyed and breathing fast but she didn't seem exhausted. She took in the child's presence for a couple of seconds and evaluated her options: she could kill her now and get rid of all the witnesses, send her off and just pretend they never met, or…

"Don't expect this often, but I'll give you some options and you'll choose one. Got that?"

She nodded.

"Option #1: I kill you and none of this ever happened, and this option is goes through regardless of your decision, if you tell anyone what happened here."

The girls face was continually getting paler.

"Option #2: We both part ways and none of this ever happened."

The girl's eyes darted toward the body on the floor, to the locked door and then back to Sylnia standing; now arms folded and her back against the wall perpendicular to the door. "2" she muttered.

**1 decade later**

It was on an early Turdas morning; Sylnia rushed into her house and started packing her things. She only quickly stopped to wake a Breton woman lying in her bed.

"Wha... What's happening!?", she said as Sylnia shook her out of her slumber.

"I was forced to kill a Thalmor in public. I don't know if they saw my face, but I'm taking no chances!"

"Where are we going!?", said the woman now dressing herself in mage robes and packing food/water.

"North, know some friends who talked about getting work there. It's far away from here and we could get lucky in landing a paying job."

"Where?", the woman still continued to question frantically.

"Just follow me, and don't fall behind again!", Sylnia shouted as she raced out the door with the Breton trailing behind.

Many nights passed before they finally made it to the southern border of a land of Snowy mountains peaks and frozen tundra. After traveling for so long with their food reserves now depleted the duo was very worn out.

They continued to soldier on until they realized they had unwittingly ran themselves into what appeared to be a skirmish between unknown factions. One in silver steel-like armor with red cloth outlines and another in leather armor with dark blue cloth draped over it and some who had even bear skins on themselves.

Sylnia attempted to direct themselves out of the line of fire but she felt a sharp pain strike her shoulder and blacked out.

* * *

_I spy with my little eye a really poorly executed sexual innuendo. Does explaining the make of a weapon or item do anything for the reader, is it of any significance to you guys if you're told it's an elven dagger rather than just a dagger? Also I have not the foggiest clue what Valenwood truly looks like other than the shape of its border lines make so... Imagination Powers! GO!_


	3. The Third

_(I own nothing except the characters that weren't created by "Bethesda Softworks")_

**The Dragonborns of the 4th Era**

**Chapter 3. "The Third"**

It was just before noon and a male Redguard was sitting in his dirt patch just on the outskirts of a small village with bad bruises all over his body. Despite his daughter's previous constant questioning, only he apparently knew where the bruise originated. A blanket was propped next to a tree by large sticks in a tent formation, to block out the pouring rain in the forest. His Breton daughter (no more than 10 years) of age was sitting next a small pile of books, spell tomes and empty wine bottles reading a book titled "Liminal Bridges".

"Kae whatcha' wasting ya time readin' those for?" the man said still peering out the tent as though looking for something.

"They're fun, it uses alot'uh big words but I think it talks about experiments with other worlds." The girl then attempted to take a swig of drink from the bottles; realized they were empty, and disappointedly went back to reading.

As she continued to read the book; only partially comprehending it, she realized water was seeping through the blanket and dropping drips of water on the books. She quickly took the books and spell tomes and placed them in a head-sized hole in the tree next the tent.

Taking a glance at her moving behind him the Redguard asked, "Where'd you get those books from anyway."

"I uh… found… them", she stuttered.

"Are they valuable?"

"No! I mean… Some merchant… was just… Throwing them away and..."

"Did you steal them!?" he turned to face her.

"..."

"Kae please, we don't be needin' any attention to ourselves! Not now."

"I just wanted to read them, and look I learned a lot!" The girl stood up held her hand out and began manipulating a purple orb that appeared in her hand; several seconds passed and nothing happened.

"Just wait dad I know how to make a wolf appear!"

"A wolf! Stop! Stop it now!"

She stopped immediately and began to try to explain what she learned to her father, but he abruptly started talking over her. "We don't need any experimentin' goin' on and no thievin' and sneakin' off on our own. Are we clear?"

"Yes sir."

"Ya can't be attractin' more problems than we can handle." he said turning back to face the rain and trees.

Kae tried to find the softest mound of dirt she could lie in and closed her eyes which didn't help her sleep when she was still a bit irritated the spell she tried to cast didn't work. She was sure if he gave her a little more time to concentrate and cast the spell properly he wouldn't have scolded her.

That idea of what would've happened if she cast the spell right, stuck in her mind till her father shoved her out of her cat-nap whispering "Go hide now!".

The rain had stopped and she could hear another voice in the distance coming in their direction.

"Go now!" Kae's father whispered frantically.

Kae ran a little ways before doubling back to her father to get within earshot distance of the tent and figure out what was going. She stopped behind one of the many large trees when she could clearly hear the sound her father and some other unrecognizable voice.

"So where's my coin Redguard?"

"I… have a name." Kae's father's voice sounded very unusual like he was forcing a tone of voice he didn't normally use.

Kae steadily poked her head out trying to put a face with the unknown voice, and she saw a Altmer that had her father by the collar of his worn shirt with a sword to his throat. Then she hid back behind the tree.

"And no one is going to care what it is when you're dead, now pay me what you owe. Did you gamble it all away again? or spend away on that child wench that you keep around."

"Her mother took her away she..." Kae's father made grunt of pain after someone made the sound of a fist colliding with a body.

"Don't lie! I know that bitch's mother is long since dead, that you care for her as her beggar guardian and she steals magic books from the local merchants! And you got beat senseless in a bar brawl just yesterday night, and looking at you now the evidence is still there."

"Well about that brawl" the fear in the Redguards voice was very evident."Its seems in all that chaos someone might've… picked me."

"Picked me? What in oblivion are you talking about?"

For the moment they were talking Kae was putting all her concentration into working the spell she had previously failed at. Walking out from behind the tree she finally cast a wolf familiar and watched as it charged straight toward the Altmer.

Kae's father took this opportunity (as the elf looked at the girl and wolf in surprise) to break free from the elf's grasp and run towards his daughter. However, he didn't make the full trip before falling flat on the ground completely motionless with a dagger sticking out his back.

Kae doesn't scream but just stares in horror at her father's lifeless body, then at the dagger-throwing Altmer who is now just finishing off the wolf familiar by casting lightning from his hands. She then immediately runs away.

With no destination or direction, other than away from the sound of quickly paced footsteps, she makes her way toward a village of houses built in trees, and races up the spiral wooden stairs leading up to them and stops when she can no longer hear footsteps.

Relieved but still tense and worried she decides to find a place she can safely hide. At random she runs toward one of the houses and takes out a purse stuffed in her clothes (stolen from one of the merchants around the area) and takes out several of the many lockpicks it is filled with, along too with a single small knife. Hours she spends trying to properly pick the lock nearly breaking her entire supply of lockpicks. Then after much frustration she finally heard the *click* sound of the door unlocking but before she could step through she heard quickly paced footsteps sound behind her.

Running inside without looking behind herself she couldn't even begin to look for a hiding place before the door slammed open. She spun around to see the elf murderer make his way toward her. But like her father, he too fell before he could reach her.

As she watched the Altmer fell down face first with an arrow sunk deep into the back of his head ,another elf, this time a Bosmer climbed out of a closet she was hiding in and closed and locked the entrance door then confronted Kae as she leaned against the wall near the door, sheathing her bow.

The Bosmer gave her 2 options to choose from. The Bosmer would either end today's chain of murders with her, or let her go to try and make it in the outside world with no family (without telling anyone else that she saw the elf kill someone). After telling her to leave she directed her attention to the corpse.

The Bosmer starts to break off the fired arrow and undress the Altmer; tossing his clothes on her bed.

Kae mustered up all her courage to speak "That elf killed my dad cuz he couldn't pay his debt!"

"So?" The Bosmer continued to walk over to a set of drawers in the corner and pulled out a huge blood-red leather mat and placed it underneath the body without looking at her.

"I just wanna ask if you could... could.. help me bury my dad cuz I don't know how to bury people."

The Bosmer let out a blood chilling laugh. "Just dig a large hole and dump him in it, besides why would I help a person who got himself killed refusing to pay his own debt."

"He could pay his debt, it's just some thief stol-" she spoke no further when the Bosmer began to unsheathe her battleaxe. But she never pulled it out completely, and just paused in mid-motion.

For a couple of seconds she stands there frozen in thought. Then turns toward her and says "What thief?"

"I don't know just someone he fought at a bar." Kae continued to stare at the Bosmer's feet, terrified to make eye contact.

"What's your name?"

"Kae… short for Kaefyltha." she stuttered

"That doesn't sound like a Breton name."

"M.. my ma died having me, and my pa, he named me w.. with only one name cuz he's a Redguard." Kae was worried because the Bosmer was staring right at her and was still holding the hilt of the half-sheathed battle-axe."

There's a long pause of the elf just staring directly at her before she said "Yea I'll help you bury your dad, after I finished with this body."

She then completely unsheathes the battle-axe and starts chopping the corpse's limbs off from his torso.

Kae didn't say a word but just watched as she cut the the elf into smaller pieces as the blood flowed and camouflaged onto the mat but didn't sink through. Then she took the body parts and put them into a cooking pot. She opened another drawer of with buckets full of blood soaked water, took out a bucket of water that wasn't blood soaked and began cleaning that mat with a rag (from the same drawer).

"What are you going to do to him" Kae questioned, part of her not wanting to know.

"Eat him. what else?"

Disgusted and slightly scared she didn't say any more till the Bosmer was finished "preparing her meal".

Afterwards they both quickly made their way towards the makeshift tent with the Bosmer making glances in all directions. It was a very small uncharted village so there wasn't bound to be people outside at any time of day, but if there was she couldn't be too careful.

Once there, the Bosmer took a prolonged look at the lifeless Redguard before taking the shovels (they had brought along with them from the house) and digging. When they built a big enough hole for the body, placed him in there, and put back the dirt they stood there in silence only for a moment. It was now night-time but it was filled with the wails of a ten-year old at her father's makeshift funeral.

"Shutup! you'll attract attention!" The Bosmer whispered to her still looking around."

Kae quieted down her screams of agony to a more subtle whimpering, but through her snot and tear ridden face she peered up the Bosmer was who now was in deep thought staring at the dirt mound.

Finally coming out of the trance she said "How would you like a third option?"

"Huh?" was Kae's only response to the information that she didn't register.

" How… If I gave you a third option to live with me what would you say?" she still didn't look at Kae as she said this.

"Yes. Yes. Thank you" She said almost smiling despite her sorrow and the foreign and weird nature of the Bosmer. While the elf turned away to walk back home she began wiping her face with her clothes before collecting her belongings out the hole in the tree and raced after the elf. Once she caught up it dawned upon her that their was something important she was missing.

"What's your name ma'am" Kae asked.

"Sylnia, Sylnia Shadevale."

"I've never had a second name before, do you mind if I use yours?"

"No I don't mind, why would I care?"

* * *

_OMG! what a twist, who in a million years would have ever known it was the same characters from the last chapter. No one, that's who. I understand for some (or just me) it may be painful to read about characters who are referred to as "The [insert common noun here]" when you know gosh darn who it is, as though the writer is epically failing to create some form of mystery, but someone please think of the characters, how do they feel about the mystery of who "captain obvious to the reader" is. And yes, yes I did experiment with characters speaking slang in a universe I'm not even sure has slang. Sue me._


End file.
